


five years

by zoeysdianetti



Category: Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (TV)
Genre: Also fluff, Best Friends to Lovers, Canon Divergence, F/M, and the show didn’t give that to us so i decided to write it, angst angst angsty angst, bisexual! zoey clarke, i just needed more background on my babies, involves a peanut allergy, keeping a balance you know, maybe a dash of angst who knows, minor biphobia, no heartsongs in the first four chapters because zoey doesn’t have powers yet, pining probably, same goes for mo and simon, some joan/ava on the side
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:54:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24204733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zoeysdianetti/pseuds/zoeysdianetti
Summary: Zoey and Max start working at SPRQPoint on the same day and immediately bond during their first late night at the office. Over the years they only grow closer, and they’re always right there for each other, even when things get complicated.
Relationships: Zoey Clarke & Max Richman, Zoey Clarke/Max Richman
Comments: 35
Kudos: 86





	1. year one

**Author's Note:**

> each chapter will be one year in the life of max and zoey, but i might take a while to update because i have a lot of assignments due and exams coming up so we’ll see. for now, enjoy the first chapter!

Today is the day. Her first day at SPRQPoint. Zoey feels giddy, excited to start her new job. She gets to the office thirty minutes early. The receptionist tells her her new boss ( _ Jane? Joan? _ Zoey didn’t catch the name) isn’t there yet, but Zoey is welcome to chill in the main hall for a while. She thanks the receptionist and looks around. 

The entrance is huge. People seem to just sit anywhere they like—on the stairs, on the floor, one person is sitting on the side of a big flower pot with a tree in it. Zoey heads for the stairs and sits down. She decides to listen to a podcast and looks around a bit, taking in her new workplace. She’s still just as impressed as the first time she came here for her job interview. Everything looks new and high-tech (that last one is probably true). The main hall looks like an ant colony with all these people running around, doing God knows what.

After 25 minutes of waiting, Zoey takes the elevator up to the fourth floor. She has been ordered to go to Joan’s — she asked for the name again — office when she gets there. She and another new employee would be introduced together. 

The fourth floor is even more impressive than the main hall and the meeting room where she had her interview. There are a few desks, isolation pods, hanging chairs to chill in, a cereal bar and two wooden constructions: a meeting room and an office. Zoey assumes the office should be Joan’s, so she walks up the stairs and knocks on the glass door. A distressed looking woman looks up, takes her glasses off and motions to Zoey she can come in.

“Zoey, right? Sit down, we’re waiting on someone else and then I’ll get the team together for an introduction.”

Zoey is startled by how direct the woman is. From the moment she sits down, Joan puts her glasses back on and continues working. Zoey just sits there awkwardly, looking around in the office.

At 9:30 sharp, Joan stands up and tells Zoey to come with her.

“Weren’t we waiting for someone else?” Zoey asks.

“It’s 9:30, he should have been here by now. Come on, let’s go.”

Zoey follows Joan to the wooden stairs that seem to double as a briefing room or a tribune.

“Good morning team. This is Zoey, she will be joining the team starting today. I trust you will all show her what to do and what definitely not to do. Zoey, do you want to tell us something about yourself?”

“Oh, uh… I’m Zoey Clarke, I’m 25 years old. I used to work at—”

“Okay Zoey, wrap it up, we don’t have all day,” Joan interrupts.

“—and I’m excited to start working here?”

Joan points Zoey to the stairs, tells the rest of the coders to introduce themselves later and moves on to the rest of the agenda. Zoey takes in her colleagues. When she spots Tobin Batra, she nearly turns into a fourteen year old fangirl. This dude is a  _ legend  _ in the hacking community and she gets to work with him? She knew he worked at SPRQPoint, but what are the odds of him working at the office in San Francisco on the same floor as her?

Halfway through the briefing, a brown haired dude comes running in. Like, literally, he comes running from the stairwell and he’s panting.

“So sorry I’m late.”

“Maxwell Richman?”

“Yes, call me Max please.”

Joan sighs and sends him to sit on the stairs too.

“This is Max Richman, he will be starting today too. Max, come by my office later. Zoey, you too.”

Joan picks up where she was cut off by Max. She wraps up the briefing and everyone immediately gets back to work. Zoey and Max sit awkwardly. They don’t know what to do yet, they don’t even know where their desks are.

“We should probably—” Zoey starts, vaguely pointing in the direction of Joan’s office.

“Yeah, we should—” Max does the same thing.

Zoey laughs. She’s gonna like him. They step into Joan’s office. She gives both of them papers to get a laptop from SPRQPoint, explains what to fill in and where to deliver the papers and then points them to two empty desks.

“Those are yours, I don’t care who sits where, you guys figure it out. Max, be on time tomorrow, okay?”

He nods and tells Joan it won’t happen again. Joan hands them both a brief document with their job description and tasks to do on their first day. After that, Zoey and Max walk over to the desks. They each pick one and fill out their forms. 

The rest of the day goes by quickly, and soon they’re the only two people left at the office. Zoey feels like she needs to prove herself, working in a male-dominated field. Max seems a little more laid back, but he wants to make up for being late on his first day.

“Hey, you almost done?” Max asks.

“Oh, I’ve been done for over an hour.”

Max looks at her funny. “Then why are you still here?”

“Oh, you know. Just getting ahead of the misogyny, working my ass off to prove you don’t need to have a penis to work well.” Zoey realises what she just said and covers her face with her hands. “That was a very weird thing to say, I’m sorry.”

Max just laughs. “Yeah, no. I definitely get where you’re coming from.”

Zoey peeks through her fingers and sees Max rolling toward her in his chair.

“You up for a fun game?” he asks.

“Depends. What kind of fun? Does it have to do with the penis I just mentioned?”

Max laughs again. Zoey could hit herself, why can’t she stop saying penis to a dude she has known for less than a day?

“Please forget I said that. What game?”

“Get your chair. We’re racing.”

The late night ends up being really fun. After eight tries, Zoey finally beats Max at the office chair race, although she’s pretty sure he let her win. When they leave the office a little before 10pm, they end up getting kebab from the place across the street. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow Max.”

“And every day after that,” he smiles.  
  


* * *

After that first night together at the office, Zoey and Max get to know each other better. They’re very different, but it seems to work. Whenever Zoey is with Max, she feels at home, like she has known him her whole life. In reality, it has been three months. 

“You know what movie I would love to see again?” Zoey asks Max on their way into the office. They grabbed coffee together before work.

“Which one?”

“ _ Look who’s talking. _ You know, the weird nineties movie about the talking baby?”

“I think that was actually an eighties movie. I have a copy of it at home, we could do a movie night sometime?”

“That sounds like a great idea! This Friday, your place?”

The elevator doors ding when they arrive at the fourth floor.

“Great, it’s a date!” Max smiles.

* * *

Movie night turns out to be a success and soon it becomes a weekly tradition. Max has a binder full of bootleg dvd’s, as if it’s still the nineties and we don’t have Netflix. Zoey makes fun of it every week, but the truth is she actually likes flipping through the binder to pick a movie. There’s something special about it, a certain vibe. Without the binder, movie night is not movie night.

Max and Zoey have known each other for five months now. It’s Friday, their weekly movie night and they’ve just picked a movie. Max gets up to put it in the dvd player. While his back is turned to Zoey, who is sitting on the couch, she says: “I have some news to tell you.”

Max starts the movie, takes the remote from the table and turns around to Zoey.

“Oh?”

“We can’t do movie night next Friday.”

“Why not?”

“I have a date. With the girl we met at the Golden Gate Grind, Alice.”

Max looks caught off guard. “Are you… you know?”

Zoey suddenly realises she has never talked about her past relationships with Max. He has told her plenty about his, but she never told him anything. His reaction pisses Zoey off.

“You can just say it, you know? The word lesbian. It’s not a bad word.”

“I’m sorry, I just didn’t know you liked girls!”

“I don’t  _ just _ like girls. I’m bisexual. I’m just— Lesbian is often perceived as something sexual, okay? Some porn category to please men, but in real life people think it’s disgusting.”

“I’m sorry, Zoey.”

Zoey closes her eyes and breathes deep. She needs to calm the fuck down, Max didn’t mean bad.

“It’s fine. I’m sorry for going off like that.”

They hang in the silence for a minute, both pretending to watch the movie, but neither really paying attention.

Eventually, Max is the first to break the silence. He pauses the movie and says: “So, you have a date huh? That’s amazing! What are you gonna do?”

“We haven’t really talked about that yet.”

Max gasps. “Zoey! Are you telling me that you’re going out with this random girl and you didn’t even  _ plan _ anything?”

“Well… yeah.”

He shakes his head and sighs. “I have so much to teach you. Lucky for you, I have plenty of experience when it comes to taking girls on dates.”

Zoey laughs. Max starts telling her about his best and worst date nights, tells her what to do and what not to do and even gives her kissing advice.

“Max, I’ve kissed girls before, I think I can handle that part,” Zoey assures him.

“Well, you never know,” he says.

The movie is forgotten, but neither of them mind. There will be plenty more movie nights, but there’s only one time Zoey can get dating advice from Max for the first time.

By the time it’s 2am, Max tells Zoey he should probably be heading home.

“There’s no way you’re going home like that. We drank  _ way _ too much. Stay over and go home tomorrow when you’re sober.”

“Well, I didn’t bring anything with me.”

“It’s fine, I’m sure I can find something for you to sleep in. Come on.”

Zoey walks into her bedroom and ruffles through her drawers. She finds a dark green shirt that used to be her dad’s. It has the logo of Mitch and Maggie’s flower shop on it.

“Here, try this on.”

While Max puts on the shirt, Zoey steps into her bathroom and gets one of her spare toothbrushes for Max. She makes sure it’s another colour than her own, so she doesn’t confuse them.

Max walks into the bathroom in the green shirt and his underwear. The shirt is too big for him, which makes Zoey laugh.

“I can’t even imagine how this shirt looks on you if it’s already a nightgown for me!”

“I don’t remember why I have it actually, but it’s fine. We’ll keep it for more impromptu sleepovers,” Zoey giggles. She hands him a green toothbrush and the tube of toothpaste. “It’s a new brush, don’t worry.”

Max gratefully takes the toothbrush and -paste from Zoey.

They end up sleeping in Zoey’s bed together, because Zoey assured him the couch is not comfortable. It’s fine though, the bed is big enough to fit both of them.

“If you hog the covers I’m throwing you on the floor, capisce?” Zoey jokes.

“Oh, I don’t doubt that for a moment. Goodnight Zoey.”

“Night Max.”

* * *

One week later, Zoey shows up at Max’s apartment with a bottle of wine.

“Bad date?”

“Terrible. Can I come in?”

Max steps aside and takes Zoey’s jacket.

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

“Not really. I just wanna get it out of my head, got anything that might help?”

“Well, I have a binder full of dvd’s and you have wine. I think that might work.”

* * *

  
Eight months after they started working for SPRQPoint, Zoey and Max get invited to their first office party, plus ones allowed.

“So who are you taking?” Zoey asks Max.

“I don’t know, I’m not really in the mood for finding a date by next week. What about you?”

“Taking a break from dating for a while. It seems like every dateable person in San Francisco is determined to fuck up their dates with me.”

“Oof, Jonathan didn’t work out for you?”

“He was rude to the waiter and when I reprimanded him, he told me they get paid to fulfill the customer’s wishes. He left a 2% tip. _ Two percent _ . I apologised to the waiter and left a 30% tip to make up for Jonathan’s rudeness.”

Max sucks air in between his teeth, staring at Zoey with a pained look in his eyes.

“What if we just go together? The two of us? Could be fun, right?”

“Max, we’re both invited. We were both planning on going. We can’t be each other’s plus one.”

“Says who? We could get dinner beforehand, share a cab. It’s really just convenient.”

“Actually, you’re right. That would be great. You could sleep over afterward? I kept your toothbrush and that shirt you wore last time.”

“Sure, sounds great. Let’s do it.”

  
  


The office party night is there. Zoey and Max ordered pizza. The original plan was going out to a semi-fancy restaurant, but they forgot to make a reservation.

“Max, can you get it? I’m not done yet,” Zoey yells from the bathroom when the doorbell rings. Max takes the pizza’s and pays the delivery guy.

“Be quick, I can’t guarantee I won’t eat both of these before you’re done,” he yells back. 

“I’m pretty sure you can.”

He opens the first box and sees a hawaiian pizza. “Are you for real Zoey? Hawaiian?”

Zoey comes out of the bathroom in sweatpants with her hair up in a sloppy bun. Her make-up is done, but apart from that she’s still a mess.

“Hawaiian pizza is objectively good, you’re just too weak to admit it.”

“Oh no, I am not having this discussion with you. Not again.”

Zoey giggles and waves a slice of hawaiian pizza under Max’s nose. She gets close and takes a huge bite, spilling some of the tomato sauce on her shirt and the table. With her mouth full of pizza, she smiles at Max. He just rolls his eyes and pushes her out of the way so he can get to his own pizza.

“I can’t believe you come into my house, tell me hawaiian pizza is disgusting and then proceed to eat a pepperoni pizza as if that’s tasty. I almost didn’t order it for you.”

“Well, that’s mean.”

“What, you still got it, didn’t you? I’ve been very sweet, just like this pineapple. Want a bite?”

Zoey waves the pizza under Max’s nose again. He takes a slice of pepperoni from his own pizza and dumps it on hers.

“ _Noooo!_ ” Zoey picks the pepperoni off, holding it as if it were a dirty diaper. She makes a disgusted face.

“Not enjoying the pepperoni, Zo?”

“Did you know that’s actually not pepperoni? It’s called salame. Ask any Italian, they’re very passionate about it.”

“They’re also very passionate about not putting pineapple on pizza, are you gonna listen to them for that too?”

“I think you know I won’t.”

After dinner, Zoey and Max get ready to leave. They’ve both put on semi-formal outfits, both suits. By 9:30, they arrive at the office. They’re purposely late, not wanting to be two of those people who have to stand around awkwardly and greet everyone coming in. Joan and her husband are talking to Leif and Tobin, who apparently didn’t bring dates either.

Zoey squeals when she sees the cocktail mix on one of the high tables.

“This is  _ the best _ mix, Max.” She stops and laughs at the  _ mix-Max _ . “Here, do you want some?”

“Nah, I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“There are peanuts in it. I’m extremely allergic. Did I never tell you that?”

“You didn’t. What should I do if you ever do eat a peanut? Like, on accident or something?”

“Give me an epipen and call the hospital, not much about it.”

“Do you always have an epipen with you then?”

“Actually I don’t. I haven’t eaten peanuts in a long time, I know how to avoid them. It’s fine.”

Zoey shrugs and takes a handful of the cocktail mix. Max gets them both drinks and soon they’re talking to a few people from the third floor.

The night ends up being really fun, but after a few hours Zoey starts getting tired. Her feet hurt from the high heels she’s wearing and people are starting to get drunk and annoying. She asks Max if he’s ready to go home.

“Sure, let me get our jackets, I’ll be right there.”

They take a cab home. Zoey nearly falls asleep on Max’s shoulder. When they arrive at Zoey’s apartment building, she doesn’t even wait until they reach the elevator to kick off her heels.

“Max, I pity you for never feeling this kind of relief. It’s the best feeling in the world.”

“I’ve heard about it, yes. One of my ex-girlfriends told me it was the same thing with bras.”

Zoey nods. “She was right. But that’s not true for every woman though. The heels are.”

“What’s the difference?” Max asks.

“Big boobs and small boobs are different. I don’t feel comfortable explaining this to you when I’m half drunk, sorry boy.”

Max laughs and throws Zoey’s pajamas her way.

“Here, get changed.”

Zoey smiles gratefully and disappears into the bathroom, while Max gets changed in the bedroom. He knocks on the bathroom door, checking if he can come brush his teeth yet.

“Sure, come in.”

Zoey is taking off her make-up.

“You look like a panda.”

“You look like the Statue of Liberty.”

“Okay, point taken.”

Max brushes his teeth and lays down in bed already, waiting for Zoey to be done. When she finally walks into the bedroom, he says: “I don’t get how you do it.”

Zoey crawls in bed next to him. “Do what?”

“Everything. Being a girl. Wearing heels and make up and dresses and bras. It all sounds insanely exhausting and painful.”

“Hey, I wore a suit tonight,” Zoey reminds him. “It’s fine, really. You get used to it. I had tiny plastic princess heels as a kid. We really learn young.”

“That sounds absolutely terrible.”

Zoey shrugs. “I really liked my princess shoes.”

“You’re a psychopath.”

“And yet you’re still brave enough to share a bed with me, respect.”

Zoey switches off the light, deciding it’s time to sleep. Max gives her a quick goodnight kiss on her hair and then turns around, immediately hogging the covers.


	2. year two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> minor biphobia warning!!

“Can you believe it has only been a year since we started working here and at the same time it has _already_ been a year?” Zoey asks Max as they walk into the SPRQPoint building.

“What’s even harder to believe is that we’ve known each other for only a year. I feel like I’ve known you my whole life. Really, I don’t think anyone knows as much about me as you.”

Zoey laughs. “Not even your mom?”

“ _Especially_ not my mom. You don’t think I tell her about dates and one night stands, do you?”

“Yeah, maybe not.”

As they ride the elevator up to the fourth floor, Zoey says: “We should celebrate tonight.”

Max raises his eyebrows. “Oh? What’d you have in mind?”

Zoey smirks. “Nothing special. Late night at the office, office chair rematch.”

“Oh, I am _in!_ ”

Before the elevator doors even open, they can already hear Joan yelling at Tobin. Max and Zoey give each other a knowing look. Joan can be like princess Aurora one day, and be Godzilla the next, there’s no predicting what’s to come. Zoey and Max step out of the elevator and try to get to their desks without Joan noticing them.

“Zoey! My office please.”

“Stay strong,” Max whispers. Zoey mouths _thank you_ and follows Joan into her office.

“Hi Joan, top of the morning to you.”

“Shut up. I need updates on the SPRQControl. Give me some good news.”

“Oh, uh… I think you’d better ask Tobin, he knows more about it than me. I think he figured out the whole wireless thing though.”

“You think? Zoey, I need you to be sure.”

Zoey carefully tries to choose the right words. “I just… didn’t think that was my job? I’m just a coder, it’s not like I’m a manager or anything.”

“Yes, but you’re a woman. I can’t stand to be around men for now. So I need you to gather all the news on the SPRQControl and brief me in an hour.”

“O— Okay. Anything else?”

“No, you can leave.”

Zoey steps out of Joan’s office and makes a beeline for Max, who’s already waiting for her at the soup bar.

“What did she want?”

“Updates on the SPRQControl.”

“Isn’t that—”

“Tobin’s job? Yes. She was being really weird, said she didn’t want to deal with men right now. Do you know what’s going on?”

“Maybe she’s having troubles with Charlie? I don’t know. Maybe you can ask her, she seems to like you the most out of all of us right now.”

“No way. I’m not risking my head.” Zoey looks down at Max’s hands and spots the bowl of pumpkin soup he’s holding. “Are you really eating soup at 9am?”

“I mean, yeah? It’s cold and I’ve already had way too much coffee today.”

“I thought you said you had only had one cup?”

“I lied. I’ve had four.”

Zoey’s eyes widen. “Four? Man, you need to get help. Anyway, I’m gonna talk to Tobin. We’re still doing lunch later, right?”

“Yeah, sure thing.”

Zoey nods quickly and finds Tobin. He’s sitting on the floor next to the stairs with his laptop on his lap and noise cancelling headphones on. Zoey kneels down in front of him and waves, trying to get his attention.

“Oh, Zoey, it’s you.”

“Who else would it be?”

“Joan. She’s really up my ass today.”

“Yeah, mine too. Do you have updates on the SPRQControl?”

“Not much, but I can email them to you. Why do you need them?”

“I don’t need them, Joan does.”

Tobin groans. “Why doesn’t she ask me for them then?”

“Probably because you’re hiding from her. Can you send everything you have right now? Joan wants them as fast as possible and I’m not in the mood for getting yelled at today.”

“Sure, I’ll send them in like five minutes, gotta do this tiny little thing first.”

Zoey thanks him and walks over to her own desk again. Max is sitting across from her, focussed on his work. When Tobin’s mail comes through, Zoey immediately forwards it to Joan, hoping she can get out of another uncomfortable conversation that way. Sadly, she’s wrong. Joan waves her over a few minutes later.

“Did you get the email?” Zoey asks as she sits down across from Joan.

“What email? You know what, it doesn’t matter. We’re having lunch together today. My treat.”

“That’s… very kind of you, Joan, but I already had other lunch plans.”

“Cancel them, postpone them, I don’t care.”

“But why? Usually you don’t say more to me than what’s absolutely necessary and suddenly you want to have lunch? No offense.”

Joan finally looks up from her laptop. “I left my husband. I could really use some girl time right now. Is that okay with you?”

“Oh— Yeah, sure, I’m sorry.”

“Lunch at 1pm sharp, make sure you’re ready.”

Zoey nods. She leaves Joan’s office and walks over to Max’s desk. It feels like she has been running around ever since she got here this morning, playing messenger for everyone.

“We have to cancel lunch. Joan is taking me out and I couldn’t say no.”

“Did she schedule a murder?” Max asks.

“Not as far as I know, but this day could go any direction.”

“We’re still staying late, right? Gotta celebrate our first year together.”

“I can’t guarantee anything, but I’ll try, promise.”

“It’s all good Zo, we can do it tomorrow too.”

“It won’t be the same though. I’m really gonna try, I’ll let you know.”

Joan seems to really mean just lunch, because Zoey makes it back to the office by 3:30pm. The rest of the day is all a blur of code, Max and spilled soup. That last one was Leif’s fault. He snuck up on Zoey with a programming question and that caused her to jump and drop her entire bowl of soup. At least, that’s her version. In reality, Leif approached her in a normal way, but Zoey was off in her own world.

By 8pm, every single person in the building, apart from the cleaners and the janitor, has left. Max and Zoey are sitting in the hanging chairs with a kebab. They’re laughing at a cat video playing on Zoey’s laptop. Work has been forgotten, just like on that first night.

When Zoey finishes her kebab, she grabs her office chair and rolls toward Max, who is still sitting in a hanging chair. He smiles at her. A genuine, endearing smile.

“I love you, you know? I don’t know if I’ve ever told you that. You’re like the sister I never had.”

“I love you too. I can’t believe that it’s only been a year. And I know I’ve said that a lot today, but it’s true. I really feel like I’ve known you for a much longer time.”

“Come here,” Max opens his arms. Zoey tries to roll her chair closer to him, but the carpet does not agree with her. After a few more tries (that get some laughs out of Max) she gets up and walks over to him to hug him. He pulls her onto his lap. They sit like that for a few minutes, until Max says: “So. Office chair race?”

Zoey jumps up. “ _Hell yeah!_ I’m gonna _finish_ you!” She runs and hops on her chair, giving herself a head start. 

“Hey! Not fair!” Max runs to his desk to get his chair. He takes a running start too and hops on his chair, trying to get closer to Zoey. It’s no use, she’s already several feet ahead. When she starts losing speed, she puts her feet on the floor and kicks herself off. She’s the first to reach the wall and cheers.

“ _Sucker!_ I told you I’d win this time!”

“Yeah, but you got a false start. I want a rematch!”

Zoey giggles and puts her chair in position to start over. Max puts his chair next to hers, getting ready to beat her this time. They take a few steps backward so they can take a running start.

“Ready? 3… 2… 1… _GO!”_

Max and Zoey run and leap for their chairs, flying through the office. Zoey wins again, and Max demands yet another rematch.

“Have you been practicing or something?”

“I might have been, yeah,” Zoey grins.

“You’re a competitive dork, you know that?”

“I do, yes. GO!”

“Wha— _No!_ ”

Zoey rolls back to the other wall, sticking her tongue out at an unprepared Max.

* * *

It’s Christmas Eve and Zoey is at her parent’s house. Maggie is busy in the kitchen, preparing the buffet for tonight. Mitch is in the dining room setting the table, while Zoey, David and Emily are on the couch, watching a cheesy movie. Zoey offered to help her mom, but she assured her she was fine.

The doorbell rings. Zoey shoots up from the couch and says: “That must be Max!”

She lets him in and takes his coat. Max walks into the living room and greets the rest of the family, wishing them all a happy Christmas Eve. In turn, they all wish him a happy Hanukkah. For the first time since 1978, the first night of Hanukkah and Christmas Eve are on the same day. Mitch has put a menorah on the table, ready to be lit later.

“Max! It’s so good to see you again, it has been way too long.”

“Mom, he was here last week.”

“Really? It feels much longer ago.”

“I’ve missed you too, Maggie.” Max holds up a bag with a bunch of wrapped gifts in it. “Can I put these down anywhere?”

“Sure, put them under the tree with all the others honey. We’ll get to them after dinner.”

Before dinner, when the sun is down, everyone gathers around the table. Max lights the shammash, the middle candle of the menorah. He recites the three blessings and then uses the shammash to light the candle on the far right, the first day of Hanukkah.

After that, Maggie and Zoey put the food on the table. Maggie and David are both not fond of turkey, so Maggie made both stuffed turkey fillets and chicken breasts. There are homemade tater tots, steamed vegetables, warm apples stuffed with cranberries and apple sauce. 

“This is amazing Maggie, you really outdid yourself this year,” Emily says.

“Oh, it’s nothing, really. I prepared a lot of this yesterday, so I only had to heat it up today.”

“Still Mom, you did an incredible job,” Zoey says.

Mitch chimes in too. “They’re right, this is delicious.”

Maggie smiles, grateful for her family.

After dinner, it’s time for presents. Everyone gathers around the tree. Mitch explains a game they’ve been playing for years to Max, since it’s his first Christmas with the Clarkes.

“Someone describes the plot of a Christmas movie in three words. When you guess right, you get a present and after you’ve opened it, you make up a new description, got it?”

“That can’t be too hard,” Max smiles, glancing at Zoey. She told him about the game over a month ago and ever since then, they’ve watched three Christmas movies every movie night. It’s not a competitive game, but they still want to win.

“Max, you go first, since it’s your first time,” Mitch says.

“Okay. Green, hairy, relatable.”

“The Grinch!” Zoey yells out.

Max smiles and hands her a present with her name on from under the tree. It’s not his, but David and Emily’s. Zoey opens it and finds blue wireless headphones inside.

“You said your headphones were broken on one side and it annoyed you, so here you go,” David tells her. “They’re noise cancelling, so you can listen to your podcasts in peace.”

Zoey crawls over to David and Emily and hugs them. “Thank you.” She crawls back to where she was sitting and says: “Okay, my turn. Reliving, blind date.”

“12 dates of Christmas!” Emily says.

Zoey hands Emily a present from under the tree. The game goes on and on, until all presents are gone and half the living room is covered in wrapping paper. David cleans it all up, while Zoey goes to say goodbye to Max. 

“Hey, would you look at that?” Mitch says. He’s pointing at the mistletoe hanging over their heads.

“ _Dad._ I didn’t even know you still hung this up.”

“Well, I have to find my daughter a significant other somehow, right?”

Zoey rolls her eyes at him. Max kisses her on her forehead.

“Here you go. Maggie, Mitch, thank you so much for everything. The food, the presents, it was all amazing. I’ll see you soon!”

“New Years, right?”

“You bet!”

Zoey follows Max to his car.

“Thank you for coming, Max. I had fun.”

“Thank you for inviting me,” he says.

“Actually, that was my mom. But sure, I enjoyed your presence too.”

“I’ll see you next week, Zo.”

“Bye Max, text me when you get home.”

“You know I will.”

* * *

The new year starts well with a pastry bar at SPRQPoint. Max catches Zoey walking over there at least four times a day. It amuses him, she’s never that passionate about whatever food bar there is.

Zoey and Max are at work late, using the SPRQPoint gym. When they’re on their way to the elevators, getting ready to leave, they see Joan still sitting in her office. Standing behind her is Ava Price, who manages the sixth floor. She seems to be massaging Joan’s neck and shoulders. Max and Zoey look at each other, raising their eyebrows.

“Probably something about that new SPRQWatch,” Max says. The elevator arrives and Zoey and Max get in. Right before the doors close, they can see Ava bowing down and kissing Joan’s neck. As Joan turns her head to Ava, the doors close.

“Oh my god,” Zoey says.

“Oh my god indeed. _Joan and Ava?_ Who would've thought?”

“Not me, that’s for sure. I’m sorry, I need to process this for a moment.”

The elevator doors open again on the ground floor.

“Do you need a ride?” Max asks.

“Sure, that would be great.”

Max drops her off at home and goes inside with her for a minute.

“We’re still on for movie night this Friday, right?” Max asks.

“Sure! Should I bring the snacks?”

“No, I’ll get them, it’s fine. I’m afraid we won’t find a better movie than what we saw today though.”

“Yeah, that was wild. I didn’t even know Joan wasn’t straight? Ava, sure, but not Joan. As long as I’ve known the woman she has been married to Charlie.”

“Are we sure of what we’ve seen? Like, it was dark and the elevator doors were closing, we might have imagined it.”

Zoey thinks back about what she saw. Maybe the massage wasn’t what she thought. Maybe Ava just bowed down to point out something on the screen. 

“Nope, I'm definitely sure of what I saw.”

“Yeah, me too,” Max sighs. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Absolutely. Drive safe, text me when you get home.”

“You know I will.”

* * *

In April, Zoey has been in a relationship with Calliope for a little over two months. They met during a night out and immediately hit it off. Max never thought she would be Zoey’s type: dreadlocks, lead singer in an indie band and most importantly: boycotting coffee.

“Max, _please_ tell me you brought me coffee,” Zoey groans when she arrives at work. Max hands her a cup of black coffee and laughs.

“You still haven’t told Calliope huh?”

“No,” Zoey sighs. “She makes some very valid points about slavery and I can’t just counter that with saying it’s liquid heaven on early mornings.”

“I guess you could try,” he grins, “but I’m not sure it will change her mind.”

Zoey takes a sip of the coffee. Her face lights up as the bitter drink slides down her throat. “Max, you really are my hero, you know that?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite hear you, could you maybe—”

Zoey slaps him on his chest and mutters _shut up._

“Oh, before I forget: could we pause movie night for a while?” Zoey asks.

“Why?”

“Calliope is not comfortable with me spending this much time with you.”

Max feels his heart sink in his chest. “Oh. Okay, sure. Although…” He pauses, carefully choosing his words. “Are you sure she should be telling you that? Like, isn’t that a little… controlling?”

“What? No. We do spend a lot of time together, she’s right. I’ll still see you all the time, don’t worry.”

Max makes a face, but he lets it go. Zoey is a grown woman, she can make her own decisions. 

* * *

And so movie night gets put on hold for a few weeks, until Zoey unexpectedly shows up at Max’s apartment one night. Her eyes are puffy and red, her cheeks flushed, but Max can tell she’s trying to hide it.

“Is this a bad time?” she asks.

“A bit, yeah. Liz is here. What’s up?”

“Liz?”

“My date.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you had a date? Is this like, a first date or…?”

“Third date and you’d know that if you ever listened to me, but you’re always busy with your girlfriend. Eventually I just stopped telling you.”

“I’m so sorry Max, I’ll come back another time.”

“Are you sure? You look pretty upset.”

“I don’t want to ruin your date.”

A brown haired woman, about Zoey’s height, appears behind Max.

“Hi! You must be Zoey.”

“I am, yeah. You must be Liz. Nice to meet you.”

“Zoey is going through some stuff. Are you gonna hate me if I end this date early?” Max asks Liz.

“Not at all, I get it. She’s like your sister, if I remember it correctly?”

“She is,” Max smiles.

Liz grabs her jean jacket and kisses Max. “Call me later, okay?”

“Will do. I’m so sorry, Liz. I’ll make it up to you next time, promise.”

Liz smiles, squeezes Zoey’s arm and leaves. Max lets Zoey in. As he shuts the door behind them, he asks: “What’s up Zo?”

Zoey,sitting on the couch, starts shaking, rocking forward and back like a little kid. It’s only when Max puts his arms around her, the tears start coming. She’s blabbering, but Max can’t make out a single word.

“Zo. Zo, take deep breaths.” He demonstrates calm, deep breaths. Zoey’s head, resting on Max’s chest, rises and falls with him. Her breathing is short and uncontrolled, but she does seem to calm down a little.

“Would you like some water?” Max asks. Zoey shakes her head. She doesn’t want Max to get up, she needs to be close to him right now. “Are you sure? You need to stay hydrated.”

Zoey sits up straight and wipes away her tears. “You’re funny. Can you just hold me please?”

Max nods and allows Zoey to lay down on his chest again. He gently strokes her hair.

“Hold on, I know what will help. Max grabs the remote and switches on the tv. He goes to Netflix and presses play on Zootopia.

Zoey looks up at him and smiles. “All this time you just had Netflix and yet you make us use your dvd binder every single movie night?”

“It’s all about the nostalgia, Zo. Just enjoy the movie. You don’t need to think about anything for now.”

Zoey smiles gratefully and, without taking it off Max’s lap, turns her head to the tv. By the time they’re halfway through the movie, Zoey takes the remote and presses pause.

“I’m really sorry for ruining your date. If I had known, I would have just gone home.”

“You don’t have to be sorry. Do you want to talk about it yet?”

Zoey nods.

“I got into a fight with Calliope. It started stupid. I’d had some coffee and I kissed her right after. She could somehow taste it and she got mad. It was all downhill from there. At some point she brought you up and I couldn’t take it anymore.”

Max raises his eyebrows. “What did she say?”

Zoey looks away and mutters: “That I’d cheat on her with you.”

“ _What?_ That’s _crazy._ ”

“I know, I told her that too. Then she got mad for calling me crazy and started going off about how she should have known better than to date a bisexual.”

“Why… would you not date a bisexual?”

“She said we’re greedy. Apparently bisexual people are more likely to cheat.”

“That can’t be true,” Max says.

Zoey shrugs. “I don’t think so either, but she seemed pretty sure.”

“So what happened next?”

“We broke up.”

“I’m sorry Zo.”

“I’m good now. I was just really overwhelmed when I got here. Once again, sorry f—”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence,” Max interrupts. Zoey presses her lips together and holds her hands up as if she’s surrendering.

“For real though Max, thanks for being there for me. Again.”

“That’s what brothers are for, right?”

“Could you maybe tell David that? He seems to think brothers are for annoying you.”

Max laughs. “Sure, I’ll do that next time I see him.”


	3. year three

November is one of Zoey’s favourite months, especially the first two weeks, when the Halloween madness is over and the Thanksgiving and Christmas madness has yet to start. Next to that, Autumn is beautiful. She doesn’t _just_ mean the season, the barista isn’t bad either. Zoey takes her drink from Autumn and thanks her by leaving a tip in the jar next to the register.

“So, when are you gonna make a move?” Max asks her as they walk out of the Golden Gate Grind.

“When are _you_ gonna make a move?” Zoey repeats. “She’s straight.”

“I’m not gonna make a move. I’m very happy with Liz, thank you very much.”

Zoey smiles. She’s glad to see her best friend happy. Liz is a great person. Zoey was convinced of that ever since that night when she first met her, right after Calliope had dumped her. Ever since then, she has spent some more time with her and Max and Liz has only proven to be even more awesome. For example, she’s very much into true crime (granted, many women are) and she listens to one of Zoey’s favourite podcasts. Apart from that, she has absolutely no problem with Max and Zoey spending as much time together as they do, contrary to Calliope.

Zoey has been thinking about her ex a lot. The breakup is nearly five months behind her, but lately she has been thinking about Calliope again.

“Are you sure I shouldn’t just call her again? Maybe we can work it out,” Zoey asks Max, completely out of the blue. He immediately knows who _her_ is.

“No. Don’t do it. People getting together for a second time almost never work out. It starts great: you reconnect and remember everything you loved about each other, but eventually you’re gonna want to drink coffee without feeling guilty again.”

“Is that supposed to have a deeper meaning?”

“It means I will not be sneakily getting you coffee every morning again. If you’re really that desperate for coffee, you can drink the office coffee,” Max jokes.

“No, ew. Maybe just a text?”

Max snatches Zoey’s phone away and holds it up high over her head.

“Give it back!”

“Not until you promise not to text or call or contact Calliobitch in any way.”

Zoey jumps, arms frantically waving in the air. She manages to jump high enough to touch her phone, but she can’t grab it. After two more tries, she gives up and pouts.

“Nope, not gonna work Zo. Promise me.”

“Fine. I won’t text her.”

“And…?”

“I won’t call her.”

“And…?”

“Max! Just give it.”

“Not until I hear you say it.”

Zoey rolls her eyes at him. It doesn’t please him, so he waves the phone in the air, letting Zoey know he still has the upper hand.

“Or contact her in any way,” Zoey mutters.

“See, was that so hard?” Max says as he hands Zoey her phone back. “I’m doing this for your own good, you’ll thank me later.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. I’ve just been thinking about her a lot, you know? I don’t know why.”

“It’s getting colder, holidays are coming up. People tend to get lonely in times like these.”

“Not me,” Zoey says. “I’ve always been perfectly fine on my own.”

“Times change, people change, it’s normal Zo. Stop looking at everything like it’s black and white. There’s a huge grey zone, and if you dare to think out of the box, you might even discover the rainbow zone.”

“What’s that one supposed to be?”

“The gay zone,” Max grins. “No, but for real. Maybe listen to some music for once instead of those podcasts. You’d be surprised how many relatable feelings can be hidden in a song. You’ll immediately feel less alone. I bet you anything I could convey whatever I was feeling right now by singing an already existing song to you.”

“You couldn’t. Nobody can ever feel the exact same way as you.”

“Bet? Tell me a very specific feeling or vibe and I’ll try to give you a song that fits that feeling.”

Zoey thinks about it for a moment. “A song about a sleepover.”

“Hayley Kiyoko, sleepover. Come on, that’s too easy.”

“A song abouuut… watching a horror movie and being scared shitless.”

Max seems to think about it for a while. Zoey opens her mouth to rub in that she was right, but right in that moment Max says: “It’s not really about being scared shitless, but there is a song called _1980s horror film._ That should be close enough to prove my point.”

“I hate you,” Zoey mumbles.

“I love you too, Zoey.”

* * *

  
December comes around and Zoey invites Max over for a special edition movie night to celebrate her birthday. It’s convenient, since her birthday is on a Friday this year. They’re both excited about it. Zoey plans the whole evening (and night, she’s letting Max stay over), while Max teases Zoey endlessly about her present. He’s keeping it a surprise while simultaneously hyping it up and it’s driving Zoey insane.

Unfortunately, the night starts out a little different than how Zoey hoped it would go. Liz got offered a promotion at her job. That would be great, if it didn’t involve her moving to New York.

“It has always been her dream to move to New York, her job was the only thing keeping her here. She doesn’t like being uncertain of what’s next, not knowing if she’ll find a way to keep her head above water in New York,” Max sighs.

“So… Are you going with her?”

“No. My whole life is here, I don’t want to leave. We decided to break up.”

“Max, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine, really. It was a mutual decision.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t be sad about it!” Zoey exclaims.

“I mean, we’ve only been together six months. It’s not like we were planning our wedding or anything. Can we just talk about something else please? It’s your birthday! Time for happy thoughts and celebration!”

Max grabs a shopping bag that had been standing next to the couch and holds it out in front of Zoey. When she tries to grab it, he pulls it away.

“You. You are a mean little man.”

“Admit it, you love this mean little man.”

“I really do.”

“Happy birthday Zo,” Max says as he hands her the shopping bag. Inside is a big box, wrapped in Christmas tree wrapping paper.

“Before you say anything: I know you hate it when people view your birthday and Christmas as one thing, but I ran out of other wrapping paper.”

“It’s fine Max,” Zoey laughs. She takes the box out and carefully picks at the tape. When it lets loose, Zoey removes the perfectly intact wrapping paper.

“A coffee maker? Max, thank you!”

“That’s not all! It grinds fresh beans for you and it has a timer. You can set it in the evening and wake up to the smell of fresh coffee in the morning.”

“Max, this must have cost a fortune!”

“It’s fine. Your parents and David pitched in too, it’s from all of us. I just had the honor of giving it to you. You’re 28 now, you need some grown up stuff in your apartment.”

“This is really great Max. Thank you,” Zoeys repeats.

She whips out her phone and sends a quick _thank you_ text to the family group chat. Max gets a kiss on the cheek.

The rest of the evening mostly consists of terrible horror movies (Zoey and Max like yelling at the characters for being dumb), lots of birthday cake and even more laughter.

That evening in bed, Zoey is more scared than she’d like to admit. Sure, the horror movies were terrible and old and not realistic _at all,_ but some part of her still believes a serial killer could show up next to her bed any minute. She turns around to face Max. It’s dark, so she doesn’t see him, but she can feel his breath.

“Max?” she whispers. “Are you still awake?”

Max grumbles something. He’s half asleep, but that’s awake enough for Zoey.

“I’m scared.”

“Why?” Max mumbles, his head half buried in his pillow.

“The movies,” Zoey admits.

“If an alien comes to kidnap you, I’ll fight him. You're my best friend, he can’t have you.”

Zoey can’t help but smile. She doubts if Max will even remember this conversation in the morning.

“Any other ways to protect me? I mean, it’s always better to prevent stuff from happening in the first place.”

“Sure, come here,” Max says, opening his arms. Zoey turns her back to him again and moves in close. Max wraps his arms around her, kisses the back of her head and suddenly they’re spooning. Zoey feels a whole lot safer being this close to her best friend, even if he’s already asleep again. 

They stay like this all night, and even when Zoey wakes up before Max the next morning, he still hasn’t moved. She stays in his arms, enjoying his company. For a split second, she catches herself hoping it could be like this every night. She shakes the thought. Winter, holidays, like Max said: people tend to get lonely in times like these.  
  


* * *

On New Year’s Eve, Zoey is spending the night with Max _again._ It’s already the third time in a week: first Christmas Eve (he slept over at her parent’s house, just like she and David and Emily do every year), then her birthday and now this. 

“You might as well move in by now, I’m never getting rid of you anymore,” Zoey jokes.

“We have to be fair: it was a different house each time, so moving in might be hard. Which house do we get?”

“Very good point. Are you ready?”

“Sure.”

Max and Zoey are going out tonight. There’s a party at a bar near the SPRQPoint building. Zoey subtly tried to figure out if their coworkers we’re going too and when she was sure they weren’t, she asked Max to go with her. He immediately said yes, and so they’re in a cab on their way to a karaoke bar.

The party is already raging when they get to the bar. One of the karaoke screens shows the countdown to the new year. People everywhere are wearing hats and glasses and other props with _2018_ on them in glittery letters and fancy fonts. Max gets both of them drinks. They mingle with the party people and soon they’re both drunk and dancing together.

By the time the countdown lets them know the new year is merely 15 minutes away, Max pulls Zoey out of the crowd and shows her a black card.

“I swiped a rooftop access card, we can watch the fireworks from the top of the SPRQPoint building if you want.”

“Oh my god Max, yes! Let’s go.”

Zoey grabs their jackets and runs out. Max has trouble keeping up with her. For a drunk person, Zoey is still pretty good at running.

“Zo, slow down! We have time, you don’t have to run.”

“I know, I want to!”

“I don’t,” Max mutters under his breath, but he runs after her anyway.

Zoey is waiting for him in front of the SPRQPoint building. She needs his access card to go in. Max opens the door for her and lets her go in first.

“I’m so excited,” Zoey giggles.

Max is endeared by her enthusiasm. He calls the elevator down and once it arrives, he swipes the access card and pushes the top floor button. The elevator shoots up.

“How did you even get the card?” Zoey asks. She’s sitting down on the floor of the elevator, legs spread like a little kid playing in a sandbox.

“It was on Joan’s desk and she’s getting back to work two days later than us, I was just gonna put it back before she’s back.”

“You’re a genius, Max Richman.”

The elevator dings and the doors slide open. Cold air immediately fills the tiny space.

“Come on, Zo.”

Zoey waves her arms at Max, demanding he help her up. He grabs her wrists and pulls her up from the floor. She giggles and falls in his arms. Together, they walk to the side of the rooftop.

“How much longer do we have to wait?” Zoey asks.

Max checks the time on his phone and turns it around for Zoey to see.

“Four minutes? Wow.” They stare out over the city. There are lights everywhere, it’s an amazing sight. Zoey has never been up here at night before. “Kinda crazy how there’s only three minutes of 2017 left, huh?”

“Two,” Max says. “It’s really crazy. So much has happened this year. What was your favourite part? Like, do you have one top moment from this year?”

“October 2nd,” Zoey says without a doubt. “Our annual celebratory late night at work. I never thought I’d ever meet someone who would make me _want_ to stay at work late. What was your favourite?”

“I want to say going to Muir Beach with Liz, but I’m not so sure about it anymore. Movie nights with you are always great, especially that last one.”

“I like spending time with you,” Zoey says.

“I like spending time with you too,” Max smiles.

The fireworks start going off, and without thinking, Zoey turns to Max and kisses him. His lips are cold from the outside air, but his breath is warm. Zoey feels herself getting light in her head. It must be the alcohol, that’s what’s making them do this. Sober Zoey would never even think of kissing Max. But drunk Zoey? Drunk Zoey doesn’t care. She allows herself to get lost in the kiss, to feel Max’s hands moving up her back and pulling her closer. Drunk Zoey doesn’t want this moment to end. Ever.

Behind them fireworks are still exploding, when Max finally pulls away. Zoey immediately feels like a piece of her is missing. Max looks down at her and smiles.

“Happy New Year Zo.”

“Happy New Year Max.”

They stand in silence, looking at the fireworks.

The next morning, neither of them bring up the kiss. Zoey remembers it perfectly, every single detail, but Max doesn’t seem to remember anything. She doesn’t want to mention it, afraid of making things awkward between them. After all, they were both drunk and on a party high. And so, Zoey pines in silence. Little does she know Max remembers the kiss too.  
  


* * *

In March, SPRQPoint introduces a cake- and pie bar on the fourth floor. It’s an immediate success, especially with Tobin. He walks back and forth between his desk and the cake bar so often, eventually he just takes his laptop and works from the table in front of the bar.

“Leif, Max, do you guys want anything?” he asks. Leif declines, but Max tells him he’ll have some cake. 

“What kind?”

“I don’t care, just give me something.”

“Tobin, could you bring me a piece of the apple pie?” Zoey asks.

“Sorry Zoster, no can do.”

Zoey looks at Max and rolls her eyes. Max shrugs apologetically. While Tobin walks over with Max’s cake, Zoey gets up to get her own pie. When she gets to the bar, she sees there are more pies than yesterday. With a plate and fork in her hand, she considers her options. She could go for the apple pie, but there’s also cherry pie today and the chocolate marble cake doesn’t look bad either. 

“Max? Are you okay?” Tobin asks. The genuine concern in his voice is what makes Zoey turn around. She sees Max sitting at his desk, staring into the distance. Zoey puts her empty plate down and runs toward them.

“Tobin, what’s happening?” she asks.

“I don’t know man, we were just talking but suddenly he’s not answering me anymore. He’s just staring.”

“What kind of cake did you give him?” Zoey asks.

“I don’t know, something with peanut butter I think?”

“ _Fuck!_ Call an ambulance, Max is allergic!”

Zoey grabs her bag from her desk and slides on the floor next to Max. She frantically ruffles through it and eventually finds the epipen she was looking for.

“Brace yourself Max,” she whispers and stabs him in his leg with the epipen.

A few hours later, Max and Zoey leave the hospital together. Max survived, much to Zoey’s relief.

“I can’t believe that out of all the possible available options, Tobin managed to pick out the one thing I’m allergic to,” Max says.

“Me neither. I mean, what are the odds?”

“I’m guessing about the same as someone without any allergies carrying an epipen. Why is that in your bag?”

Zoey flushes bright red. She hoped Max would never have to find out. “Ever since you told me you’re deathly allergic to peanuts but you don’t carry an epipen, I got concerned, so I got one.” Zoey stares at her feet. “I’m sorry, that’s so weird.”

Max grabs Zoey’s shoulders, making her look up at him. “Without you and that epipen there’s a very real chance I might have died. Never apologise for saving a man’s life.”

“Fine, you’re welcome. But can you at least start bringing an epipen with you everywhere you go from now on?”

“I can also just bring you with me everywhere,” Max jokes.

“Max.”

“I will, I promise. Sorry for this whole drama today.”

“It’s fine, you couldn’t help it. I’m just glad everything is okay.”

* * *

  
Summer is finally here and Max and Zoey are at the airport for their long anticipated trip to Belgium. Zoey had told Max she wanted to go there over a year ago. When Max asked her why, she admitted it was because when she was little, her uncle brought real Belgian chocolates home after his vacation and ever since then she’d wanted to go. What started as a running joke eventually became real plans: Max and Zoey would take a five day citytrip: one day in Brussels, three days in Antwerp and the last day going back home.

They land in Brussels Airport. Zoey found a bagbnb service in Brussels to stock their luggage for a day, so they could explore the city freely.

“Where should we start?” Max asks.

Zoey whips out her travel guide and opens it to a page marked with a pink post-it: day one.

“We could go visit the Atomium, Manneken Pis, get waffles, go shopping and a whole lot more. What are you in the mood for?”

“Let me see that,” Max says. He takes the book from Zoey and looks at all the pages with a pink post-it.

“I could go for that statue thing. How did you pronounce it again?”

“I have no idea if I’m doing this right, but mah-knee-quin piss.”

“Yeah, so that. Where is it?”

“In the center of the city. We could take a bus, we’ll be there in no time”

Zoey turns out to be wrong, because the bus she meant for them to take didn’t show up. Eventually they get to the corner where Manneken Pis stands, proudly peeing in a bassin.

“I can’t believe this is an actual thing here,” Max says. “People come to see this? A two feet sculpture of a peeing kid?”

“ _We_ came to see this,” Zoey reminds him.

“Very fair point. Hey, this travel guide says there’s another one? Jeanneke Pis. What is with this city?”

“Wanna go find it?” Zoey grins.

“Absolutely.”

And so Max and Zoey go find the female contender for Manneken Pis. They visit the Atomium, eat a real Brussels waffle and Max buys a shirt with Manneken Pis on it, to wear ironically (at least, that’s what he says).

The day turns out to be fun, but by 4pm both Zoey and Max are exhausted, thanks to the jetlag. They pick up their stuff from the bagbnb and take a train to Antwerp. Zoey falls asleep on Max’s shoulder and doesn’t wake up until a loud ding sounds and the train conductor tells the passengers they’ve arrived in Antwerp.

“The hotel should be within walking distance from the train station,” Zoey tells Max. “It’s in a theater neighbourhood apparently, I thought you might like that.”

“I do, yes.”

The hotel is easy to find once Zoey decides to use Google Maps. They check in and immediately go to bed, not even bothering to eat dinner anymore. 

The next day, they go to Chocolate Nation, a museum entirely devoted to Belgian chocolate. It’s a beautiful (and tasty) experience.

“This is the best thing ever, for real,” Zoey says as she takes a plastic teaspoon from one of the people working in the last room. There’s a huge, golden staircase leading down to a room with various chocolate sampling stations and chocolate fountains. 

“Is this museum the real reason you wanted to do an Antwerp citytrip instead of a Brussels one?” Max asks.

“It might have been, yes. But can you blame me?”

“I can’t, this chocolate is delicious. And they just let you get as much as you want?”

“I think you’re meant to taste just one spoonful of each flavour, but I don’t think anyone is gonna stop you if you get more than one. Just not five.”

Max seems pleased with that answer and goes for a second round of his favourite flavours. Zoey just watches him and laughs. What a dork.

Friday is devoted to exploring the center of the city and shopping. They visit the Cathedral, a medieval fortress called “het Steen”, which, Zoey learns, literally means “the Stone”. They chill at the river side with edible cookie dough they bought somewhere and run and hide from sudden rainfall. Most importantly, they learn not to count on any of the public transportation, because it is always late. 

Saturday is devoted to a more modern part of the city, het Zuid. They eat Belgian fries for lunch and Max swears he’s never eating anything else anymore. The evening is spent in a tiny bar, just sitting and talking and enjoying th Belgian beers.

Sunday morning they’re packing up their stuff at the hotel, getting ready to walk back to the train station with all their stuff.

“I’m so sad it’s over already,” Zoey tells Max. “I would have loved to stay like, two more days.”

“I don’t know, I think we’ve pretty much seen all there is to see.”

“Still. I like the old vibe the city has. All the old buildings and cobblestone streets.”

“There’s one thing I won’t miss. The roadwork. How is there roadwork everywhere?”

“It’s probably just a bad time, I’m sure it’s not always like this.”

Max smiles. “You’re probably right.”

Zoey goes downstairs to the reception to check out and pay. Max comes down a few minutes later with their bags and soon they’re on their way to the airport, on their way home again.


	4. year four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it’s 1 am and i just finished this so if there are any mistakes: very sorry, morning me will correct them

In November, Joan calls Zoey into her office. Zoey fears Joan is going to reprimand her for spending her day at work staring off into the distance or talking to Max. She’s just really unable to focus today, she doesn’t know why.

“Zoey, just the person I needed,” Joan says when she sees Zoey walking in.

“Leif said you wanted to see me?”

“Right, I forgot I told him to say that. Anyway, I’ll get to the point: I want you to take over my job for the next week.”

Zoey’s mind lags. No coherent thoughts make it through, only panic. Eventually, she manages to ask why.

“Because I’ll be gone and I need someone to follow up the progress on the SPRQPoint Watch. We’re about to enter testing, it needs to be perfect.”

“But why me? Why not Leif?”

“He’s too arrogant, I don’t trust him enough. I leave tomorrow, can I count on you?”

_“Tomorrow?”_

“Yes, Annie. Tomorrow, it’s not that hard to understand.”

Zoey is getting light in her head, breathing hard. Tomorrow? She can’t do that. Her heart is racing. There’s not enough time to prepare herself, what if she fails? What if she does one small thing wrong and it messes up the whole timeline for the watch?

“Zoey?” Joan’s voice sounds far away. A lot is happening, but Zoey doesn’t register any of it. She vaguely sees Joan step out of her office and a bit later she feels a hand on her back. Max kneels down in front of her chair and looks up at her. He gently places both hands on Zoey’s shoulders and looks into her eyes.

“Zoey. Zoey, look at me please. Repeat after me. I am Zoey Clarke. I am 28 years old. I am at SPRQPoint.”

Zoey looks at him, the way his lips move. She finally starts to register what he’s saying.

“I am Zoey Clarke. I am 28 years old. I am at SPRQPoint,” Max repeats again.

“I am Zoey Clarke. I am 28 years old. I am at SPRQPoint,” Zoey says. “I am Zoey Clarke. I am 28 years old. I am at SPRQPoint. I am Zoey Clarke. I am 28 years old. I am at SPRQPoint.”

She starts getting quieter, whispering the three sentences, repeating them over and over again until she knows they’re true. She takes deep breaths, trying to slow her heart rate. Max hands her a bottle of water and she carefully takes a few sips. Zoey is still shaky, but her breathing is normal again.

“How are you feeling?” Max asks.

“Okay. I just need a minute.”

“Take your time. Do you want me to stay with you?”

Zoey nods and takes another sip of the water. Max keeps talking to her about random things, trying to distract her. It’s working, and after a good 15 minutes, she can explain what happened to Max.

“Joan wanted me to take over her position for a week, starting tomorrow. She emphasized how important it was to follow up all the progress on the SPRQPoint Watch and worst case scenarios started playing in my head and then suddenly you were here. Where is Joan?”

Max nods at Zoey’s desk, where Joan is sitting, fidgeting with a stress ball.

“Should I go get her?”

Zoey nods. Max steps out of the office and calls Joan in. It feels like the world is upside down.

“Are you okay?” Joan asks.

“Yeah, I’m fine, thanks to Max.”

“I figured he’d be the right call. So I take it you won’t run the office for a week?”

“I just don’t think I’m the right person for the job. You should really leave this to Leif, he’s a natural born leader.”

“Yeah, I know. He’s just so slick, you know?”

“Why will you be gone? I mean, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“I _do_ mind you asking, Zoey, thank you.”

“I’m sorry, this is probably none of my business,” Max starts, “but Zoey just had an anxiety attack because of this. Is the least you could do not… tell her why?”

“ _Fine._ Ava and I are eloping. No one knows, so please, keep it that way.”

Max and Zoey share a look, both thinking back to the night they saw Joan and Ava in this very office.

“Congratulations,” they say at the same time.

“Anyway, Zoey. Last chance: will you be taking over, yes or no?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I can.”

“That’s okay. Tell Leif to come see me then, I’ll ask him.”

Zoey does what Joan asks and while Leif is in her office, she walks over to Max’s desk.

“They’re _eloping?”_

“I honestly forgot about that night, when was it? Like a year ago?” Max asks.

“I think nearly two. I’m so confused. I don’t think I’ve seen them together anymore after that night? Like, I haven’t even seen them talk to each other.”

“You talking about Joan and Ava?” Tobin asks.

“What? _No._ I mean yes, but no,” Zoey stutters. She turns to Max, hoping his mouth _does_ work.

“We were. Have you ever seen them talk to each other?”

“I can’t believe you’ve worked here for four years and you haven’t heard about their iconic feud,” Tobin shakes his head. “They _hate_ each other. Nobody really knows why. There’s a rumor Ava slept with Charlie, but some people also say it started in college when Ava was Valedictorian instead of Joan.”

“Oh. Okay, didn’t know that. Thanks Tobes,” Max says.

“All good bro.”

As Tobin walks away, Zoey turns to Max.

“ _What?_ Talk about whiplash.”

“Maybe they just really want their employees to stay out of it? I mean, I get it. I wouldn’t tell anyone here if I’d slept with you,” Max says.

Zoey’s face flushes red at the thought of having sex with Max. He didn’t intend it like that, he was just giving an example, but she can’t help it. To hide her awkwardness, she decides to joke about it.

“Maxwell Richman, are you saying you’re ashamed of me?”

“No, not at all. Anyone would be lucky to get to sleep with a catch like you,” he grins, oblivious to what’s going on inside Zoey’s head because of him. “I just wouldn’t want anyone on the team snooping around, you know?”

“That’s more like it. But I get it, I wouldn’t want them to know either.”

“Good thing we don’t have to worry about stuff like that, right?” Max winks.  
  


* * *

  
It’s December when Maggie and Mitch call everyone to come over. David, Emily, Zoey and Max. He might not be related by blood, but he’s a part of the family. They’re all gathered around the kitchen table.

Mitch explains he has been having a lot of headaches lately, often accompanied by eye pain. Maggie told him he should go see a doctor, which he at first thought was unnecessary, but eventually he gave in. After a few more tests, the diagnosis has come. Progressive supranuclear palsy. PSP.

“What… does that mean?” Zoey asks.

“It’s a brain disorder. Right now it’s still pretty much fine, but it will get worse and worse until eventually everything shuts down. We don’t know how long that will be.”

Everyone sits in silence, processing the news. They’re crying. Max wraps his arms around Zoey and pulls her closer.

“Come on guys. I’m still here. We’re gonna make the best of this, okay? As long as I’m okay and I can still do everything, we’re gonna take advantage of it.”

“Is there no cure?” David asks.

“There are medicines and I’m taking them, but they will only slow down the process, they can’t stop it completely.”

“I can’t believe this,” Zoey says. “You were fine. You _are_ fine. How does this happen so all of a sudden?”

“We don’t know honey, but unfortunately that won’t keep it from happening,” Maggie says. “We’re going sailing this Sunday. Are you coming?”

Zoey nods. “Of course.”

“You, Max?”

“I’m not. You should get this time to yourself, but if you ever need anything, please don’t hesitate to call me. I’ll be here in a second.”

“That’s very nice of you Max,” Maggie smiles. “Thank you.”

“It’s no problem, really.” Max stands up and takes Zoey apart. “Zo, would you like me to stay or would you rather be with your family?”

“You _are_ family Max,” she says.

“But I’m not really. I totally get it if you want to be with them right now without any outsiders.”

“Actually, you might be right. I’m sorry, I just can’t make up my mind right now. I’m still processing all of this. It’s a lot.”

“That’s okay, don’t worry. I’ll go home, call me if there’s anything, okay?”

“I will. Thank you Max.”

Max kisses Zoey on her forehead and goes to say goodbye to everyone in the kitchen.

“Take care Zo. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

* * *

  
In the first month after his diagnosis, Mitch seems to be doing just fine. He’s having troubles with his balance and speech sometimes, but overall he’s doing well. Until he’s not. His PSP gets worse and suddenly he needs a wheelchair to get around. He needs soft foods. He can barely talk anymore. It’s all happening way too fast, Zoey almost feels like he’s already gone. She feels guilty whenever she’s having fun, she just can’t help it. Max is the first one to tell her she shouldn’t feel guilty.

“Like, I know it’s something you can’t control, but he’s still here. He’s not doing great, but he’s here. And his PSP getting worse doesn’t mean you’re suddenly not allowed to feel happy or have fun anymore. I think Mitch would tell you the same thing.”

“I know,” Zoey sighs. “I just feel weird. I’m not ready to lose him Max.”

“Then stop thinking of him as if he’s already dead. Do you remember that barbecue last summer?”

_“That barbecue.”_ Zoey makes air quotes. “You’re gonna have to be more specific.”

“The one where David couldn’t be because he got food poisoning from eating bad sushi.”

“Oh yeah, sure. What about it?”

“Your dad said that he thinks you can never actually lose someone.”

“Right, because I was still getting over Calliope.”

“Yeah, let’s not bring her into this. I still think she sucks and your relationship was unnecessarily complicated. Like, no coffee? Having me sneak around for that?”

“Max, buddy. Not the point,” Zoey interrupts.

“Right. He said losing someone is relative, you can only lose them if you want to. If you don’t, your brain will keep them around forever, reliving the best memories, maybe even making new ones in your dreams. These memories might not be real, but they are something you can treasure and keep close to your heart. You’re not losing him. He’ll always be right there with you, even when you’re out having fun.”

“You’re probably right.”

Max shakes his head. “Nope. I’m not _probably_ right. I’m right and you know it.”

Zoey softly slaps him on his chest, but before she can pull away, Max grabs her hands and twirls her so she’s stuck in his grip. Zoey tries to fight him, but he pushes her to the floor without much effort. She’s laughing and struggling to get out of his arms, but he doesn’t let go.

“Fine, fine, I surrender,” she laughs. “ _You’re right._ Now can you please let me go?”

“Only because you said please,” Max says as he lets Zoey go.

“Thank you Max. For being here.”

“That’s what friends are for,” he smiles. “So, are you still in the mood for movie night? I was hoping we could watch Mamma Mia.”

Zoey rolls her eyes. “What is it with you and musicals? I don’t get it. People don’t just start singing what they’re feeling in the middle of the street. I, for one, would be very freaked out if that happened.”

“But it’s Meryl Streep,” Max counters.

“I would freak out if she did anything near me, honestly. Fine, put it on. I’ll pretend to enjoy it, for you.”

“Aww, aren’t you just the sweetest?”

* * *

It’s a hot day in May when Max unexpectedly shows up at Zoey’s apartment to invite her to mini golf. Just the two of them, because he suddenly felt like it. Zoey will never understand how he gets an idea and immediately needs to do it, but she’s happy to tag along.

They go to a mini golf course that is entirely Wild West themed. Max pays for both of them. The woman at the register asks Zoey if she’d rather have an adult or children's golf stick, because, as she words it, _“some smaller adults like smaller golf sticks better.”_ Max snickers when he sees Zoey standing there, baffled look on her face.

Max hands Zoey a (grown up) golf stick and a flashy blue ball. They get onto the track, to the first hole. It takes Zoey three tries to get the ball in.

“If I’m having this much trouble just hitting it in a straight line, I can’t imagine what the rest of the track will be,” she complains.

“Don’t give up just yet, you might just need to warm up a bit. Besides, the rest of them won’t be straight so I wouldn’t worry about it too much.”

Max hits his orange ball and scores a hole in one.

“I hate how good you are at everything, you know that?”

“Beginners luck,” Max says, but Zoey can tell he’s pleased with himself. As they move on, Zoey does indeed get a little better at hitting the ball just right. Either that, or she’s just really lucky. They reach a lane that’s basically a half circle with one upward side. Zoey stands next to her ball and hits it. It goes right at first, but then it bounces off the side and flies out of the lane, only to land back on the other side of the half circle and roll in the hole.

_“Ha!_ On the first try!” she screams at Max, happy to finally get her first hole in one.

“No way! It flew out, that’s one extra point and you have to start over!”

“Can’t you just give me this one? You must be winning by a hundred points!” Zoey screams out.

“Fine, okay. Just this once. But if you win because of this, you’re buying me a drink.”

“Deal!”

They move on, each track getting more difficult than the last one. Max ends up winning, to absolutely no one’s surprise. Zoey buys him a drink anyway, since he already paid for mini golf.

“Sometimes your spontaneous adventures can be a lot of fun, you know?” Zoey says.

“Being spontaneous is always fun, you should try it sometime.”

“No thanks, I’ll stick to planning five years ahead for now,” Zoey grins. “But if you ever have more of these random ideas, I don’t mind you showing up on my doorstep.”

“I’ll remember that if I ever get the urge to go deep sea diving or something.” He pauses. “I’m glad you had fun. You deserve it.”

Zoey gives him a puzzled look. “This was not a spontaneous idea, was it?”

“What gave me away?”

“I honestly didn’t suspect a thing until that last sentence. But spontaneous or not, I’m glad you took me here. It’s exactly the kind of dumb distraction I needed.”

”I’m glad it worked.”


	5. year five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks everyone for sticking with me through this while thing!! i hope you’ll enjoy this last chapter too
> 
> note: some things don’t line up with canon because i am the god of this story, but if nothing is mentioned just assume canon applies

On October 1st, Max and Zoey have their annual late night at the office. At least, that was the plan. Joan has other things in mind. The interface for the new photo sharing app needs to be done in three days and she’s not letting anyone leave before it works.

“This app is a real bitch, huh?” Max says.

“I know, ugh. I just don’t get it. We had a whole plan for the interface, what happened to that?”

“I think it didn’t work? There was no communication between the app and the watch.”

“Can I see the old plan? Like, is it still on the server somewhere?”

“I think so.” Max stands behind Zoey and types something on her laptop. “Here it is. Why do you want it?”

“Just curious.”

Max shrugs and returns to his own desk, letting Zoey get back to work. He looks through the whole thing again, trying to figure out where his programming went wrong.

An hour later, Zoey lets out a happy scream. Everyone turns around to look at her and she immediately tries to hide behind her laptop.

“What’s up Zo? Did you find anything?” Max asks.

“I think I did. Give me like, 30 more minutes to figure it out, but I think I can fix it.”

“Okay, do you need any help?”

“No, I’ll be fine.”

Exactly 27 minutes later, Zoey knocks on Joan’s office door.

“The interface is done. I’ve found the problem, it works now.”

“Really?” Joan asks. “Great job, Zoey.”

Joan dismisses the team. Max and Zoey consider staying a bit longer, trying to keep up the yearly tradition, but they decide against it. It’s already after 9 and they really just want to go home.

“Are you coming with me?” Zoey asks Max. “We could get kebab to go and eat it at my place. Some parts of the tradition just need to be upheld.”

“Sure, why not?”

And so Max ends up on Zoey’s couch, wearing the dark green sleep shirt and eating a kebab. Zoey is sitting on the floor, back leaning against her couch. She’s flipping through the dvd binder. It might not officially be their weekly movie night, but it  _ is  _ their yearly long night together, so she figured they might as well watch a movie.

“How about  _ The Princess Bride? _ I haven’t seen that one in a long time.”

“Sure, put it on. Are you gonna join me on this couch though? There’s more than enough room for two.”

“I don’t know, I like being on the floor,” Zoey jokes.

“You are such a stereotype.”

“How so?”

“Bisexual people can’t sit. It’s a very well known stereotype Zoey, I can’t believe I have to explain this to you,” Max grins.

Zoey pushes play on the movie and sticks out her tongue at Max. “If you want me to come closer that desperately, why don’t you come down here, huh?”

“Because couches were made to be sat on.”

Halfway through the movie, Zoey moves up to the couch anyway because her back starts hurting. It earns her some teasing from Max, which in turn earns him Zoey’s foot in his face. He pushes her away before she can reach his face. Zoey lets her feet rest in his lap for the rest of the movie.

When the movie is over, Max jumps up on his feet on the couch and points a book at Zoey, pretending it’s a sword.

“ My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

“Max, get down,” Zoey giggles.

He gets down and jumps in front of her while she’s on her way to the bedroom.

“ My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

“Okay Inigo, can I die in bed please? I’m very tired.”

Max drops his act and lets Zoey pass, he knows how crabby she can get when she’s tired. After brushing their teeth, they get in bed together. Zoey cuddles close, something that has become a habit over the years. She can’t even remember a time when she and Max didn’t spoon when he slept over. It feels like something from a lifetime ago.

* * *

Christmas hits different this year. Exactly one year ago, the whole family was celebrating this exact same holiday, yet everything feels off this year. Yes, Mitch had been diagnosed by this time last year already, but he was fine. He could still walk and talk and cut and chew his own food. 

This year, Mitch is sitting on the couch, staring into the distance. Maggie sits next to him, feeding him pudding. Max and Zoey are in the kitchen, preparing the last bits of the food. David is setting the table and Emily is helping him. Everything is supposed to be cheery, but it doesn’t feel that way. 

“This will probably be the last Christmas with him,” Zoey says. Her voice breaks. She can’t believe it. She can’t believe by this time next year, het dad might not be here anymore.

“Hey, come here,” Max says. He pulls Zoey close and holds her tight. She sobs softly. Max kisses her hair and wipes away her tears.

“He has always loved Christmas. Let’s make this last one the best for him, okay?”

“We don’t even know if he’s processing any of this. How are we supposed to make this great for him?”

“By not spending the whole night crying and worrying. That might be a start. I know this is hard Zoey, believe me. But crying has never solved any problems. Try to make the best out of a bad situation. It’s still Christmas, it’s still a holly jolly time. Plaster on a smile, just for your dad.”

“You’re right. He would want us to be happy.”

“Not he would. He  _ wants _ . He’s still here,” Max reminds her.

Zoey hides in Max’s arms again, seeking comfort. She knows he’s right. Mitch loves Christmas. He wouldn’t want his last Christmas to be a sad occasion.

Mitch joins the dinner table in his wheelchair. Maggie has already fed him, but that’s no reason to leave him out of this. Max lights the menorah, just like he does every year. After that, everyone eats. Zoey has decided to take Max’s advice: she puts on a happy face. It might not match her actual feelings, but Mitch doesn’t have to know that.

After dinner, it’s time for presents. When Maggie asks who’d like to start the game this year, Zoey says she has a different idea.

“What if, instead of guessing the same Christmas movies we do each year, we each sing a Christmas song this year? Like, sing a song, get a present? It might be fun to switch it up a little.”

“Are you, the person who hates music more than anyone I know, seriously suggesting we sing?” David asks.

“Dad loves Christmas songs. I’m doing this for him.”

“It’s a wonderful idea, Zoey,” Maggie says. “Would you like to start?”

“I would,” Zoey says. She has learned exactly one Christmas song by heart for the opportunity. A little shaky, she starts singing the Silent Night.

_ “Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright” _

Max joins in.

_ “Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child, holy infant so tender and mild.” _

By now everyone is singing along.

_ “Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.” _

Mitch’s face is covered in tears. Zoey can’t tell if they’re happy or sad tears, but she hugs him and whispers how much she loves him. David hands her a present, but she couldn’t care less. Her idea made her dad happy, that’s all that matters right now.

By the end of the night, everyone is getting ready to sleep. Emily and David are in bed already. Emily’s pregnancy is exhausting her, especially after the emotional rollercoaster that was today. 

Max tells Maggie he’ll help her carry Mitch upstairs soon. He and Zoey are standing in the doorframe, looking at their parents. Well, technically just Zoey’s parents, but after all these years, Max sees them as his own too. Mitch looks over at them and starts moving frantically.

“I think he’s trying to tell us something,” Maggie says. There is a slight worry in her voice.

Max looks up and nudges Zoey. They’re standing under the mistletoe.

“Dad,  _ again? _ You’re very sneaky.”

Mitch seems very pleased with himself. He keeps looking at them, as does Maggie. Max and Zoey don’t even notice, they’re looking at each other, up at the mistletoe again and back at each other.

“It might be his last Christmas,” Zoey whispers, shrugging. “He always wanted to see me get kissed under a mistletoe. So… would you be okay with that?”

“Would you?”

Zoey nods. Max bows down and gives Zoey a quick kiss on her lips. He lingers just a little bit longer than necessary, but Zoey doesn’t mind. She recalls their drunken kiss on New Years Eve two years ago and realises nothing has changed. He still makes her stomach flutter. Their lips let go and Max wraps his arm around Zoey. They’re both smiling, looking at Mitch and Maggie.

“See Dad? I’m doing just fine. Mistletoe kisses are taken care of,” Zoey smiles.

Max lets go of Zoey to help Maggie carry Mitch upstairs. Zoey follows them and goes to her own room. She gets changed while Max is helping Mitch get comfortable in bed and brushes her teeth while he’s getting changed in the bedroom.

“Should we… talk about that kiss?” he asks when they’re laying in bed.

“I just really wanted him to get to see that at least once. He got to see David kiss several girlfriends underneath a mistletoe, but not me. You’re the only person I’ve ever brought home for Christmas.”

“I am? Never a boyfriend or girlfriend?”

“No. I always thought of Christmas as something that was supposed to be just for family. But you are family. You're supposed to be here, you know? It wouldn’t feel right without you.”

“I’m honoured.”

Zoey moves in closer, cuddling against his chest. “Thank you Max. For everything you’ve done for him.”

“That’s what family is for,” he whispers, switching off the light. “Goodnight Zoey.”

“Goodnight Max.”  
  


* * *

It has been a month. A month since she got the stupid MRI because she was paranoid about a stress headache. And now she’s stuck with this stupid power. Stuck with the burden of always being there for Simon with his dead dad and stuck with the burden of knowing Max is in love with her and stuck with the burden of always having to help these random people. Bright side? At least she and Mo are finally getting along.

She’s sitting in his apartment one evening, talking through everything that’s going on.

“Like, I don’t mind spending time with Simon. At all. He’s a sweet guy and he’s hot, but he’s also very much still engaged.”

“Have you talked the talk yet?”

“No,” Zoey sighs. “I don’t want things to be awkward.”

“Things are gonna become awkward if he invites you to his wedding and you have to see him marry another woman. Why don’t you just tell him how you feel, where you stand? And then he can make up his mind. He’s not gonna leave Jessica if he doesn’t know you’re an actual option.”

“But I don’t want to be a homewrecker. Jessica seems like such a nice person, I can’t hurt her.”

“Don’t tell me Jessica is part of this whole thing too. You’re not into her, are you?”

“I mean, she’s pretty and nice, but that’s it. No feelings.”

“Good. Two is complicated enough already. And Max? Where do we stand with him?”

“He’s coming over later tonight for movie night.” Zoey checks her watch. “Should be here any minute actually, I lost track of time. Sorry Mo! We’ll talk later.”

Zoey gets up and wants to run out, but Mo stops her.

“Wait, wait. He’s not sleeping over again, is he?”

“I don’t know yet. He might.”

“Zoey! You know the boy has feelings for you, don’t crawl in bed with him and then run to your super engaged coworker. You’re gonna break a lot of hearts if you keep bulldozing through life like this.”

Zoey hesitates before answering. “But it’s gonna be weird if I suddenly don’t allow Max to sleep over anymore. We’ve been doing this for years.”

“Make him sleep on the couch.”

“No, it’ll be weird.”

“Ugh, straight people are exhausting.”

“Do I really need to remind you I’m not straight?”

“Let me rephrase that. Relationships between a man and a woman are exhausting. Just make sure he doesn’t drink too much so he’ll be able to drive home. That way he doesn’t have a good reason to sleep over and it won’t be weird. Sound good?”

There’s muffled knocking on a door in the hallway.

“That’s probably him, I have to go. Bye Mo!”

Zoey runs out, ignoring Mo’s last reminder to not let Max sleep over. 

“Max, hi. Sorry, I was with Mo.”

“It’s all good, at least you heard me. I brought the binder and wine. Did you get popcorn?”

“Of course,” Zoey says as she lets Max in. “Get comfortable, I’ll be right back.”

Zoey puts some popcorn in the microwave and walks back into the living room to see Max hunched over his dvd binder.

“What are we feeling like today?  _ Notting Hill? Imagine me & you? _ I feel the need to watch a sappy romantic thing.”

“Is romantic really the best way to go?” Zoey asks, afraid of what might happen if they get into the movie too much. It has never happened before, but things are different for Zoey since Max sang to her.

“Why… wouldn’t it be?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Just…” Zoey doesn’t finish her sentence and instead returns to the kitchen to check on the popcorn, leaving a very confused Max behind. When she walks back into the living room, she sees that Max has decided on a movie.

_ “Imagine me & you. _ What is it about?” Zoey asks.

“A woman is about to get married but then she falls in love with the florist.”

“So you went with romantic. Cool, cool cool cool. Sounds great.”

“The florist is a woman.”

“Even better. Just play it Max.”

By the end of the movie, Max is crying. Zoey is trying real hard to keep her emotions inside, but she has to admit it was an adorable ending to an even more adorable story. She looks at Max and hands him a tissue. Suddenly she can hear music playing. She groans.

“Not again.”

Max starts singing a happy, upbeat song. 

_ “ _ _ You're not the type, type of girl to remain with the guy, with the guy too shy, too afraid to say he'll give his heart to you forever.” _

Zoey wonders if he’s talking about himself or Simon. She did tell him everything about him, so this could go either way. He moves closer to her, but pulls away fast, falling on his knees.

_ “I'm not the boy that will fall to his knees with his hands clenched tight, begging, begging you please to stay with him for worse and for better.” _

He’s looking up at Zoey as if she’s the only girl in the world, ever. There’s so much love in that look, Zoey needs to look away. It all feels way too personal.

_ “But I'm staring at you now, there's no one else around. I'm thinking you're the girl for me.” _

“No no no,” Zoey says, trying to move backward on the couch as Max is getting up again. He gets close and pulls away again

_ “ _ _ I'm just saying it's fine by me if you never leave, and we can live like this forever. It's fine by me.” _

The music dies out. Suddenly Max is standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

“Zo? Are you okay?”

“Feeling a bit unwell actually. You should probably go home, I wouldn’t want you getting my germs.”

“Are you sure? Do you need anything?”

“No, I’ll be fine. I’ll see you Monday.”

Max gets all his stuff and says goodbye to Zoey. Once she’s sure he’s gone, Zoey crosses the hall and knocks on Mo’s door.

“He sang to me again Mo,” she says as she barges in.

“What did he sing?”

“I don’t know, something about me being the girl for him and it being fine if we’d stay together forever?”

“Sounds like  _ fine by me. _ What did you do after he sang?”

“I told him I wasn’t feeling well and sent him home. What am I supposed to do now?” Zoey panics.

“You did good. You do  _ not  _ need more drama, but at some point you’re gonna have to talk to him.”

“I will. Someday. On my deathbed.”

_ “Zoey.” _

“He hasn’t really said anything yet, right? He only thought it. Maybe he will never act on it and I never have to deal with it.”

“You are truly terrible at this.”

“Thank you.”  
  


* * *

Life only seems to get more complicated each day. Zoey fought with Max, Simon broke up with Jessica and her dad’s meds have stopped working. It’s all too much. Zoey misses Max a lot. She can’t stand fighting with her best friend, and the only person she wants to talk to about it is him. They always helped each other through everything and now he doesn’t even want to look at her (which must be hard for him, considering his desk is right across Zoey’s).

Things with Simon are starting to get exhausting too. He keeps singing  _ Mad World _ to her, it starts to sound like he’s a broken record. The only thing he ever talks about to Zoey is his dad, without ever asking Zoey about hers. She hasn’t told Simon her dad might die any day now, because he has his own stuff going on.

One evening, Zoey is sitting next to her dad’s bed. She tells him all about her day, about work and about how she really feels about Max and Simon. She talks and talks, hoping he hears her. But at some point, she runs out of words and all there’s left to say is about him. Zoey isn’t ready for that. She can’t talk to him about losing him. It’s too painful. The universe has other plans though, Zoey can feel a song bubbling inside her. She doesn’t fight it, if it’s there, it needs to be said. 

_ “You put all your faith in my dreams. You gave me the world that I wanted, what did I do to deserve you?” _

As she sings the words, Zoey knows they are true. Mitch gave her everything he had, gave her the best life he could offer her.

_ “I follow your steps with my feet, I walk on the road that you started. I need you to know that I heard you, every word.” _

Tears start forming in the corner of Zoey’s eyes. She lays down next to Mitch in the bed. He wakes up and puts his arm around her, comforting her.

_ “I've waited way too long to say everything you mean to me. In case you don't live forever, let me tell you now, I love you more than you'll ever wrap your head around. In case you don't live forever, let me tell you the truth, I'm everything that I am because of you.” _

Zoey is full on sobbing right now, sentences are not coming out the way she wants them too. Yet, Mitch is still there right next to her, listening to what she’s telling him.

_ “I, I've carried this song in my mind. Listen, it's echoing in me, but I haven't helped you to hear it.  _ _ We, we've only got so much time. I'm pretty sure it would kill me if you didn't know the pieces of me are pieces of you.” _

Zoey buries her head against her dad’s chest, taking advantage of the little time with him she still has left.

_ “I've waited way too long to say everything you mean to me,” _ she sobs. And then she’s laying next to her dad, but he’s gone, asleep. His arm is no longer around his daughter. Zoey gets up from the bed and sits down on her chair again, still crying softly. 

* * *

  
The first weeks after Mitch’s passing are weird. Joan, now running all of SPRQPoint, told Zoey she could take as long as she needed, she would make sure everything at work is taken care of. Zoey stays with Maggie for a while. David stayed the first week too, but then Emily went into labour and now he’s much more needed at home, with his newborn baby. 

Simon has checked up on Zoey once or twice, but he’s giving her space. Zoey told him she liked him, but it would be better if they just stayed friends. They’re both going through some serious shit right now and it wouldn’t help either of them if they had to carry the other’s burden too. Simon understood, but he didn’t seem too happy about it. 

Max, on the other hand, has been checking up on Zoey every day, FaceTiming as often as possible. Zoey is not ready to face him again in real life, but she’s always looking forward to seeing his face appear on her screen every evening. An added bonus is that her powers don’t seem to work through FaceTime, so she gets a break from those too. That is, if she ignores her mother’s heartsongs.

After nearly four weeks, Zoey packs up all her stuff at her mom’s house and gets ready to say goodbye. Maggie is stable, very slowly adjusting to life without Mitch. Zoey feels like it’s time for her to get back to work, she has been avoiding it long enough. She calls Max and asks him to give her a ride home.

The car ride is mostly spent in silence, apart from the radio playing softly in the background. When Max parks in front of her apartment building, they just sit there for a while.

“Are you ready to go back?”

“I think I am.”

“I cleaned up a bit for you. Made sure you didn’t come home to spoiled food in the fridge and dust everywhere, I hope you don’t mind.”

“It’s really sweet of you Max, thank you,” Zoey smiles. “It’s gonna be so weird. Nothing has even changed in my apartment. It’s not like my dad used to live there.”

Max stays silent. He takes in every inch of Zoey while he waits for her to make the first move to get out of the car. He doesn’t want her to feel like she has to rush. After a few more minutes, she opens the car door. Max gets her bags and they head upstairs. Zoey’s apartment has been thoroughly cleaned. Her mail is in neat stacks on the table, sorted per kind. There’s junk mail, cards with condolences from people she knows and a stack with just all the other kinds of mail.

“Thank you for all of this Max. It really means a lot.”

“It’s the least I could do. There’s also a bit of food in the fridge, I went grocery shopping. You should be good for three days.”

Instead of thanking him again, Zoey hugs Max. She pulls him close, never wanting to let him go. Max wraps his arms around her and kisses her on the head, just like he has done so many times. Only this time, it sends shivers down Zoey’s spine. She has never gone this long without physically seeing Max and abruptly realises she missed this. The hugs, the soft kisses on her head, the way she can hear his heart beating when he’s close to her. Zoey looks up at Max and smiles.

“I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too, Zo.”

Zoey looks him in the eyes and a soft jazzy beat starts playing. Max starts singing.

_ “Wise men say only fools rush in, but I can't help falling in love with you.” _

Zoey smiles, relieved to find out Max’s feelings haven’t changed, even when she needed her space.

_ “Shall I stay? Would it be a sin if I can't help falling in love with you?” _

Max twirls Zoey around and dances on.

_ “Like a river flows surely to the sea, darling so it goes. Some things are meant to be. Take my hand, take my whole life too, for I can't help falling in love with you.” _

Zoey desperately wants to kiss Max right in this moment, but there’s something mesmerising about the way he’s dancing and singing. After a whole month of only hearing her mom’s sad songs, this feels like being able to breathe again.

_ “Like a river flows surely to the sea, darling so it goes. Some things are meant to be. Take my hand, take my whole life too, for I can't help falling in love with you, for I can't help falling in love with you.” _

Zoey blinks and the moment is gone. Max is standing in front of her, puzzled look on his face.

“What’s up Zoey? You were off in Zoeyland again.” Then it hits him. “Did I just sing to you?”

Zoey nods, smiling from ear to ear. Right in that moment, she knows she’s ready. She gets up on her tippy toes and kisses Max. Her hands travel up his back, all the way to his neck. One hand stays there, the other gets lost in his hair. Max lifts Zoey up and puts her down on the kitchen counter so they’re the same height. Zoey loves the familiar feeling of Max’s lips on hers. Max tries to get even closer to Zoey, whispering  _ I love you _ in her ear and kissing her neck. Zoey forces Max to look into her eyes.

“I love you too. So much,” she says, right before she kisses him again. Neither of them is planning on letting the other go now. 

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments are very welcome because i crave validation :))


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